Six great reads: Iran’s social media memes, an abandoned department store and a 1,200-year-old record of cherry blossoms | Iran

Patrick Wintour examined how Iran won the propaganda war against the United States with a series of memes, AI-generated comedy videos, and Lego-style animations mocking the Trump administration. Despite a government-induced internet blackout, the country’s Gen Z tech warriors continue to impress western audiences with creativity, humor and sarcasm.

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2. Art, sex, nature: why is everything sold to us as a means to an end rather than as an end in itself?

For a long time, I have privately lamented the instrumentalization of everything: nothing seems to have any value in itself anymore, it is seen as useful only in the service of some utilitarian function.

Author and philosopher Julian Baggini considered how the best things in life are sold to us as a means to an end, and argued that this reductionist worldview strips meaning from our most valuable activities.

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3. Abandoned Britain: Department store turned illegal cannabis farm

The panel hangs on the wall from its wires and doesn’t look very safe. I would be nervous stepping into this elevator. Moreover, it is dark. I use the flashlight on my phone to read the sign.

In the first part of a six-part series examining Britain’s empty buildings, Sam Wollaston discovered a building in Newport that once housed a Wildings department store. But since its closure in 2019, the storied building has fallen into disrepair and has been repossessed as a marijuana farm and skate park. What can it tell us about the UK’s high streets?

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4. 1,200 years later, cherry blossom record lives on despite Japanese scientist’s death

Cherry blossom records in Kyoto, Japan, have been meticulously tracked for 1,200 years. Changing bloom dates have become a key indicator of the climate crisis. When Prof Yasuyuki Aono died last year, there were fears that no one would take up this important work. Chris Baraniuk followed the hunt for a replacement.

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5. Sperm whale communication is very similar to human language, according to research

A new study has found that sperm whales communicate with each other in a series of short clicks called codas, which are extremely complex and very similar to our language. Oliver Milman reported findings showing that whales can distinguish vowels by short or long clicks or rising or falling tones.

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6. ‘I got everything I dreamed of – when I didn’t have the ability to overcome it’: Lena Dunham on toxic fame, broken friendships and her ‘lost decade’

there is 1776490493 The sense that people are learning how much vulnerability is helpful and how much is unhelpful. And I had none of that. I had no idea about posing, styling, even simple things like how to show off your body or how to show off your face.

Emma Brockes interviewed writer and director Lena Dunham, who created HBO’s popular series Girls when she was just 23 years old. They discussed how fast and difficult stardom became for this child prodigy and why he had to step away from the limelight.

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